Conquest of Worlds
by Foenix Nightshade
Summary: Ratchet is called out to save the universe once more as a new threat from the Far Reaches of the cosmos comes to take over the dimension. Already having conquered every other dimension, this mysterious new foe seems ready for everything. But who is this stranger? Why does he seek such dangerous power? What can he do? Can the Intergalactic Resistance defeat him?
1. Nightmares

**Chapter 1: Nightmares**

Location: Unknown

"_Search the house," a cloaked figure commanded. "He's got to be here somewhere." The front door was broken off its hinges not even a second afterward and about half a dozen creatures came through. Said creatures began rummaging through the house, searching for some unknown object. The cloaked figure stepped through the entryway as this was done._

_Finally, one of the creatures approached the figure respectfully, almost fearfully, and said, "My liege, he is not here."_

"_What," the figure said. It was not a question, yet…not a statement either._

_The creature wrung its hands nervously. "We cannot find him, Sire."_

"_That is unacceptable," the cloaked figure said calmly. Without warning, he pulled out a sword and cut the creature's head off. It fell to the floor, lifeless. With a calm voice that held great authority, he said to the others, "Don't just stand there; find the boy and bring him to me."_

_The others nodded quickly, and the figure turned to leave, his cloak swirling about him like mist. "Oh, and one more thing," he said over his shoulder. "I want him alive." And with that, he left._

_A beige-and-copper female Lombax stood frozen where she was as she held a small bundle tightly in her arms. She looked in horror at the creatures before her._

"_Give him to us and you shall not be harmed," one of the creatures said, moving towards her. She shook her head slightly and took a step back. "Very well, Lombax. Your choice." He drew out his sword and stepped towards the her…_

And he bolted awake, panting for breath and soaked in sweat. It took him a moment to realize that it was only a dream. He blinked and released a shaky sigh of relief. He had been having that same dream for the past month now; it was all he could think about. He could never get that Lombax out of his mind.

Who was she? Why did she look so familiar? Did he know her? If so, then how? Why did he constantly dream about her?

The woman in bed with him stirred, sensing his unease. She opened her eyes slightly. "Ratchet?" she mumbled tiredly. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Mariah," the Lombax said as he settled back under the covers. "Don't worry about it; go back to sleep." Mariah closed her eyes again and almost immediately fell asleep. Ratchet, on the other hand, stayed awake for a while, thinking about his dream. It had always been the same: the figure, the creatures, the Lombax.

And its eyes. Those deep emerald green orbs, tainted with blood red. Always the same, never changing, never wavering.

Ratchet looked at the clock, 3:23 A.M. Now the Lombax felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over him. He changed his position and went back to sleep.

"Sir, all of the residents are resting at this time," a drone reported, looking over the city below. "Shall we begin the attack now, while they are vulnerable?"

"No. Wait until the Master gives the order," a man said. Then he continued to himself, "We must be careful in this dimension. I hear that many a dictator have been defeated by a certain rebel. If he is caught, we can work with a little more ease than we would if he was still out and about. If we do not succeed, though…" The man shivered at the thought of what may happen to those who failed the Master.

Then a transmission came in, giving orders. "All right! Everyone, battle stations! We start the attack now!" At his voice, every drone under his command hurried to do what they were assigned to do.

**First chapter done. As I have said in my other two stories, I am having trouble deciding which series I should work on first because I do not want to have to deal with the pressure of three stories at once. Please give your input.**

**Anyway, laters, peace, whatever y'all like to hear.**

**Oh, and R & R (whatever that means)**


	2. Invasion!

**Chapter 2: Invasion!**

Clank ran into Ratchet and Mariah's room in a panic. "Ratchet! Ratchet, you must wake up!"

In response, the Lombax bolted upright. He had learned from the past that if Clank sounded urgent, it was a serious matter. "What is it? What's the problem, Clank?"

"The planet is being invaded," Clank informed his friend.

"What!"

"Huh? What's the problem?" Mariah asked drowsily, woken by her bond-mate's sudden outburst.

"We're under attack!"

She was up in an instant. She tried to get out of bed, but couldn't. In the night, her tail had knotted with Ratchet's…again. She sighed in exasperation, unknotted their tails, and opened her closet. The two Lombaxes quickly changed into their armor and grabbed their weapons from the rack; Ratchet's, a wrench; Mariah's, a raritanium staff. Then they ran outside to see what was going on.

From what they saw in the immediate area, all seemed quiet. Taking a look farther in to the city, though, they saw that Clank had been correct. A large ship hovered over the city like a menacing storm. Smaller ships spread throughout the main part of the city; drones marched along the streets, enslaving most of the residents and killing those who resisted.

Ratchet looked to his friend for the odds. Clank provided them as if it was something he did for a living (which, honestly, he kind of did). "There is a 3.8947 billion to one chance of the three of us getting through the city alive at this time. Ratchet, there are too many of them, and only three of us. We cannot possibly go against these odds."

"For once, I agree with you, Clank," Ratchet said, eying the soldiers. "We'd better get to Aphelion and get off the planet."

"Ratchet…" Mariah looked at him, worry in her eyes.

"Don't worry, Mariah," he said, looking at her. He held her hand gently and pulled her back into the house, with Clank following behind. "We'll take the tunnels." The three of them ran through the house, down the stairs, and through the living room.

A loud bang suddenly came from the door and the two Lombaxes stopped dead in their tracks. "Residents, you are ordered to exit you home and come peacefully. If you do not, we will break down the door and take you by force."

Mariah stood there, frozen by fear. She stared at the door as it shattered and about a dozen robots entered their home. Ratchet grabbed her hand, and the two of them ran down the hall where Clank was waiting for them. The robots, of course, were hot in pursuit. Ratchet gripped his wrench tighter as they stopped at the end of the hall. He turned to face the drones and said, "Mariah, get the door open. I'll hold them off."

"Be careful," she said hurriedly as she opened a panel next to the mirror. She arranged the wires properly and tried to remember the code.

Ratchet, meanwhile, had already destroyed about six of the robots, but more of them kept coming. He couldn't hold them off forever, especially in such a small space. "Mariah…" he began apprehensively.

"Got it!" She entered an eight-digit code and heard a chime that confirmed it. The mirror moved to reveal a secret passage. "All right, Ratchet, it's open!"

Ratchet hit one final drone before grabbing Mariah's hand and pulling her down through the tunnel. She kept pace with him, but Clank was falling behind. "Ratchet!" He exclaimed as the robots blasted through the mirror. Ratchet stopped, looked behind them, and grabbed Clank just as a robot was about to grab him. He clipped Clank on his back, took hold of Mariah's hand again, and they continued down the endless tunnel.

"Ratchet, the labyrinth!" Mariah exclaimed.

"Yes, I know," he said, his mind racing. "That's exactly how we'll get rid of them."

"But…what about the traps?"

"Exactly!" Mariah's eyes widened at her mate's words; she knew what he was doing, but it was very, _very_ dangerous. "Just trust me on this." Mariah nodded, thinking he was nuts, but still going with it.

In only a few minutes, they entered the underground maze, with the robots following closely. They headed straight for only a few seconds before turning sharply to the right. Ratchet made an effort to trip the first trap, which blocked the path behind them.

It crushed a few of their pursuers, but most of them found their way over the rocks and continued the chase. Ratchet glanced behind him, then turned left, then took a right turn.

This led them to a short hallway with blades swinging back and forth. "Ready…Now!" They breezed through it easy enough, seeing as they had had plenty of practice with that same exact trap before. The androids were not so lucky, though. At least a dozen of them were destroyed by the swinging blades. After that, they got smarter and flew above the blades.

The two Lombaxes hurried along, trying to stay ahead of their pursuers as they continued to turn at random corners and evade the age-old traps: fire pits, quick sand, poison darts, rock slides, and so on. Finally, the trio came to the final trap; the walls began to close in on them.

"Damn!" Ratchet exclaimed. "We took a wrong turn!"

"I don't even remember this trap!" Mariah said.

Metallic laughter came from the deep shadows. "That is because this one is new."

**Ok, did I leave a sufficient cliffhanger?**

**I've finally found my old fanfictions for both ****_Sonic the Hedgehog_**** and ****_Ratchet and Clank_****, so I'll be posting some non-crossover stories! I think my crossovers are better though.**

**Anyway, laters, peace, whatever y'all like to hear.**

**Oh, and R & R (whatever that means)**


	3. I'll Save You, I Promise

**Chapter 3: I'll Save You, I Promise**

_"Damn!" Ratchet exclaimed. "We took a wrong turn!"_

_"I don't even remember this trap!" Mariah said._

_Metallic laughter came from the deep shadows. "That is because this one is new."_

"Who said that?" Mariah asked fearfully, looking around her.

A pair of bright red eyes appeared in the background as a large green-and-black robot emerged from the darkness. Mariah cowered back in fear, and Ratchet stepped in front her protectively. "Who are you and what do you want?" the Lombax demanded, gripping his wrench tighter.

"I am Omega," the robot said. "You are to come with me Lombaxes."

"Not likely," Ratchet replied with disdain. "Ya gotta catch us first." He sprang out of the way of the robot as it tried to catch him while pushing Mariah out of harm's way. Seeing what he was doing, Mariah used her momentum to slide under the robot to the mineshaft behind it.

Ratchet, on the other hand, had a little more trouble. As he propelled away from the attacker, he saw that at least two- or three-dozen drones were ready to intercept him. Thinking quickly, the Lombax shifted his weight ever so slightly and pushed off the ground at the last possible moment. He flipped in midair, alighted gently on the wall, and jumped away from it; all of this happened in a matter of seconds. By a lucky chance, he shot past Omega and skidded to a halt next to Mariah. In less than a second, the two Lombaxes were running up the mineshaft to the surface, making a point to trip the rockslide trap that would cut them off from their attackers.

"You're not getting away from me!" Omega exclaimed. He reached out towards Ratchet, and grabbed Clank off the Lombax's back. Feeling a change of weight, Ratchet turned around to see his friend in Omega's grasp. "Full retreat," Omega said. "We have what we came for."

In the seconds before they were separated, Clank saw Ratchet turn around and try to get to him, but Mariah held him back. If she hadn't, he would have been crushed below tons of rock. "Clank!" And then he was gone, consumed by the caved-in mineshaft.

"No!" Ratchet yelled, hitting the wall with his fist. He hissed as pain shot through his delicate nerves and drew back, rubbing his hand. "Not again…" he whispered. "Not again…" Mariah put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "I can't loose him again."

"I know," Mariah said soothingly. "I know. Ratchet…we need to get to the surface. We'll have a better chance of catching them if we go now." Ratchet nodded silently and the two of them headed on up the shaft.

Surprisingly, the two Lombaxes were able to find Aphelion without any other incident. Ratchet got the ship started quickly, and they lifted off the planet's surface. As soon as they were clear of the atmosphere, Ratchet set Aphelion on autopilot, sat back, and sighed; it was obvious that he was in a pensive mood. It had happened again. Clank had been taken from him. Why could he not keep his friends safe?

Mariah put her hand on Ratchet's. "It's not your fault, Ratchet. You didn't know. You couldn't have."

Ratchet looked at Mariah. He seemed to be on the verge of tears, but she said nothing of it. "I just…I can't believe I let it happen again. This is the second time he's been taken from me. Why can't I protect him? What am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing, Ratchet," Mariah said firmly. "There is nothing you have done wrong. We _will_ get Clank back, won't we?"

Ratchet squared his shoulders. "We'll do more than that, Mariah," he said with determination. A fierce look appeared in his eyes. "We're going to get rid of those hell-driven bastards before they can do anymore harm!"

Mariah simply smiled as Ratchet took the ship off autopilot and steered it closer to the planet below. _Now, _that's_ my husband, _she thought fondly. But she was worried about him. Clank was like a little brother to Ratchet. When they were separated by these circumstances, he became reclusive and would barely eat anything. This would go on for as long as it took him to find Clank again, maybe even longer. She hoped that this would be one of the easier times so this would be done quickly.

Mariah had a feeling, though. This new opponent was not going to simply run off and hide after one attack. No, Mariah sensed that this was a very formidable opponent. Then another though came to her. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Of course I-" Ratchet began.

Then someone cut him off. "Ready all cannons. Open fire!"

Instantly, giant spiked cannon balls were being shot at the ship. Ratchet attempted to avoid them, but in vain. With all of the damage, the ship had to land on the giant aircraft.

"We can't stay in here forever," Mariah said.

"I know. They'll probably break the glass in a matter of seconds. We need a plan." They heard a bang above them, and the glass cracked. "Screw the plan; let's just get out here!"

"That's the Ratchet I know!" Mariah exclaimed. She pulled out a katana while Ratchet pulled out his trusty wrench. Another bang on the glass. One more hit, and it would shatter.

"Ready?"

"When you are," she replied.

"Now!"

**Okay, gonna stop there cause I'm lazy I guess... I have the whole of next week off for Thanksgiving! :D Yay! So I might actually update again soon, but I'm going to Austin (Two hour drive *sarcastic yay*) But I might get to go biking! :D My dad works at a bike shop so we get great rental deals and whatnots, so yep.**

**Anywho, please review. I write better when you all do, and I feel like I'm doing something really, really wrong when you don't tell me how I'm doing.  
**

**Peace, Laters, whatever y'all like to hear. And I will see you all later. Byee! (It's official: one too many Patty Duke Show episodes watched)  
**


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